Abstract

International competition within the tourism industry together with the advancement of technology has affected the way holiday destinations are promoted and perceived. In today’s Internet era, the use of Web 2.0 within the travel industry continues to gain popularity. This platform allows software developers and end-users to create and share their own content in various guises, such as blogs, wikis, social networking sites and video sharing sites. As the Web 2.0 platform continues to evolve, destination marketers around the world face the challenge of creating an appealing destination identity within a dynamic shared environment. Destination identity is how destination marketers want the destination to be perceived, while destination image is the overall perception of a destination in the mind of consumers.
Users of Web 2.0 gather destination information not only from official tourism websites created by destination marketers but also from other individual users of the platform. Destination marketers are no longer the sole creators of destination images. This may create a mismatch between destination identity and destination image, which in turn may impede tourism development of a destination. Thus, as the information flow on Web 2.0 cannot be controlled, destination marketers face the risk of their destination identity being distorted by external input. This study explores the role that Web 2.0 plays in a destination branding strategy and how it influences consumer images of a destination. The aim of this study is to develop a model of destination branding within a Web 2.0 environment by constructing the components of destination image formation and using it as a foundation to explore destination identity and destination image. The underlying concepts used in developing the model are brand identity and brand image. The study is set within a specific destination - Bali.